He couldn’t even promise to visit.

Damn it. The only thing he could do was push forward on this case and get it solved to Montaine’s liking.

He reviewed what he knew about Charles Montaine. The guy had gotten his start early, doing a stint in the Army as a military policeman. From there he had worked for a detective firm, earning a reputation for meticulous investigative work and a high rate of success. Soon he had risen to partner, then bought out the other partners. From there he had expanded, making his company the biggest detective agency on the East Coast. He had absorbed several smaller agencies, often by poaching their clients and giving the agencies offers they couldn’t afford to refuse. After a few years he had renamed his business the Executive International Security Corporation.

And it was an international corporation. It had branches in twelve American cities, Canada, and Mexico. Just that year, Montaine had opened offices in Australia and Japan. His company had become the largest detective agency in the Western world, perhaps the largest anywhere. Now it looked like he wanted to move into Europe.

While Montaine had a good reputation in the business for getting the job done, no one liked him much. His semi-hostile takeovers in the early days and the way he edged out the competition had left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths. Heinrich’s own detective agency had never been bothered because, as a shoestring, one-man operation, he had been beneath Montaine’s notice. Heinrich supposed he had shown up on the guy’s radar after the Nazi gold train job, and had probably been watched ever since. Retrieving that kidnapped girl from Amsterdam a few months ago had probably solidified his reputation. Heinrich had been applying for a job without even realizing it.

But did he want that job? Montaine had a reputation as a taskmaster, no doubt a leftover from his military days. Things had to be done his way, and he made it crystal clear that he – and no one else – was in charge.

Heinrich didn’t want to work for someone like that. For his entire professional career, he had worked for himself. Lots of detective agencies and corporate firms had tried to hire him. Hell, even City University wanted to hire him as a campus cop, but he had turned them all down. He didn’t want to kowtow to the petty tyrants or the daddy’s boys or the drunks or all the other losers who ended up running their own businesses. He valued his freedom. Besides, he knew he wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with. He had a short temper and a generally bad attitude. If people weren’t such assholes all the time, maybe he’d have a better worldview. However, stuck as he was with a world of losers, cons, poseurs, and freaks, he couldn’t change the way he treated the general population. Real people were thin on the ground, and Montaine wasn’t “real people.” He’d never help a kid in need or smoke cigars and drink Scotch with the guys while listening to scratchy, hundred-year-old recordings.

But what could he do? He had to take Montaine’s offer. It was the only way to help Jan. Would that offer even come through, though? Montaine had dangled the European job in front of Heinrich’s nose because he knew Heinrich would say yes.